Inspiron, bad sound quality

@bigboiWASSUP  "And if it is a hardware issue, will I have to get a new laptop or will it be as easy as plugging in an external usb sound card or something."

If you were to use a usb audio interface you would have to use external speakers (or headphones) because the external devices cannot route the signal back to the laptop's internal speakers. How is the sound quality when you listen through headphones plugged into the audio port? If it is okay then using that port would functionally be the same as getting an external sound card, in the sense that you can connect external speakers to the laptop's audio jack.

Something you might not have tried is to switch from the Realtek audio driver to the Windows native audio driver. The native driver does not have the WavesMaxx audio enhancements that the Realtek driver does, so if the sound is better when using the native driver the problem when using the Realtek driver is probably the settings in WavesMaxx, which can be tweaked to possibly improve the sound.

1. Open the Device Manager
2. Expand the "Sound, Video & Game Controllers" section.
3. Right click on "Realtek High Definition Audio" and select to uninstall.
4. Put a check mark in the option to delete the driver software, and then ok.
5. Restart the laptop.


When the laptop boots up it will look for the Realtek files that were removed in step 4. If none found then it will install the native driver. If an earlier version of a Realtek driver had been downloaded then its files could still be in the laptop and Windows would install that version of the Realtek, not the native driver. So after step 5, go back to the Device Manager and check again for a Realtek driver. Keep uninstalling & restarting until "Realtek High Definition Audio" no longer appears under Sound...Controllers. If you see "High Definition Audio Device" that is the native driver, although in Win10 it can have a different name.

To re-install a Realtek driver you will have to download one from Dell or Realtek.

Thank you for the help, but theres still a problem. I uninstalled all the Realtek drivers until i saw the "High Definition Audio Device", but a couple minutes later the Device Manager page refreshes and the high def audio device is gone and it is replaced with just "Realtek". I repeated this several times, and it keeps switching back to "Realtek" a few moments after start up. Is there a way to fix this?

thx again

Try disconnecting from the internet or turning off Windows Update while testing. Windows Update is very aggressive in Win10.

Worked for me. Thanks.

what if dell created a software so that it  can detect the audio issue immediately and solved it instantly. lots of people go through this problem. thank you

Random person on the innertubes, THANK YOU!!  FINALLY, the sound on my laptop doesn't sound terrible.

Please help. This is a 2 weeks old laptop Dell 15 5000. The sound is crackly, its really distracting. Please how do i fix this? Thank you

Then why not get in touch with Dell.

If they cant make it better, how about returning it, & get a different laptop???

Hi Jim,

I tried all you describe but I still have the same problem.

Any other solution?

My laptop is a Inspiron 13 7000. The purchased 2 year warranty expired on December 17, 2019.

 Intel Core i7-8550U CPU 1.99GHz

Windows 10 Home

Version 2004

OS build: 19041.421

The sound on my Inspiron was fine until about a week ago. Put the laptop to sleep. Next day it started from bootup which was unusual. Oh no! Not another Windows 10 update! Last one deleted all my personal files and wiped the OS. Had to get another copy of Windows 10.

At first everything seemed fine. Then I noticed the sound, like it's being played underwater. It's terrible. I was already using the native driver so tried installing the Realtek driver. Make no difference.

thanks. my problem solved . 

Thank you it worked, only uninstalled once and after restarting the sound came back to normal

Thanks! This fixed it for me, too.